Foam materials for insulation, derived from high internal phase emulsions

The present invention relates to compressable polymeric foam materials useful as insulation. These polymeric foams are prepared by polymerization of certain water-in-oil emulsions having a relatively high ratio of water phase to oil phase, commonly known as "HIPEs." The polymeric foam materials comprise a generally hydrophobic, flexible or semi-flexible, nonionic polymeric foam structure of interconnected open-cells. The foam structures have:(a) a specific surface area per foam volume of at least about 0.01 m.sup.2 /cc;(b) an expanded density of less than about 0.05 g/cc; and(c) a ratio of expanded to compressed thickness of at least about 3:1;wherein when the foam is compressed to 33% of its original expanded thickness and is thereafter maintained without artificial restraint on its surface, said foam will reexpand by no more than 50% after 21 days at ambient temperature (22.degree. C.).In a preferred embodiment, the foams of the present invention, when heated to their Tg or higher, will reexpand to 90% of their original thickness within about 1 day or less.The invention also relates to a process for making the compressible polymeric foam material comprising polymerizing a water-in-oil emulsion having a volume to weight ratio of water phase to oil phase in the range of from about 20:1 to about 250:1.

Skip to:  ·  Claims  ·  References Cited  · Patent History  ·  Patent History

Claims

1. A compressible polymeric foam insulation material, the polymeric foam material having:

(a) a specific surface area per foam volume of at least about 0.01 m.sup.2 /cc;
(b) an expanded density of less than about 0.05 g/cc; and
(c) a ratio of expanded to compressed thickness of at least about 3:1;
wherein when the foam is compressed to 33% of its original expanded thickness and is thereafter maintained without artificial restraint on its surface, the foam will reexpand by no more than 50% after 21 days at 22.degree. C.

2. The compressible foam insulation material of claim 1, wherein the foam has a glass transition temperature (Tg) of from about 30.degree. to about 90.degree. C.

3. The compressible foam insulation material of claim 1, wherein when the foam is heated to its Tg or higher, it will reexpand to 90% of its original thickness within about 1 day or less.

4. The compressible foam insulation material of claim 1, wherein the polymeric foam material has an expanded, dry density of from about 0.05 to about 0.004 g/cc.

5. The compressible foam insulation material of claim 4, wherein the polymeric foam material has an expanded, dry density of from about 0.03 to about 0.015 g/cc.

6. The compressible foam insulation material of claim 1, wherein the polymeric foam material has a number average cell size of less than about 100.mu.m.

7. The compressible foam insulation material of claim 6, wherein the polymeric foam material has a number average cell size of from about 5.mu.m to about 80.mu.m.

8. The compressible foam insulation material of claim 7, wherein the polymeric foam material has a number average cell size of from about 10.mu.m to about 50.mu.m.

9. The compressible foam insulation material of claim 8, wherein the polymeric foam material has a number average cell size of from about 15.mu.m to about 35.mu.m.

10. The compressible foam insulation material of claim 6, wherein the polymeric foam material has an expanded, dry density of from about 0.05 to about 0.006 g/cc.

11. The compressible foam insulation material of claim 10, wherein the polymeric foam material has an expanded, dry density of from about 0.03 to about 0.015 g/cc.

12. The compressible foam insulation material of claim 11, wherein the foam has a Tg of from about 30.degree. to about 90.degree. C.

13. A compressible polymeric foam insulation material, the polymeric foam material having:

(a) a specific surface area per foam volume of at least about 0.01 m.sup.2 /cc;
(b) an expanded density of from about 0.05 to about 0.006 g/cc;
(c) a ratio of expanded to compressed thickness of at least about 3:1;
(d) a glass transition temperature (Tg) of from about 30.degree. to about 90.degree. C.; and
(e) a number average cell size of from about 5.mu.m to about 80.mu.m;

14. The compressible foam insulation material of claim 13, wherein when the foam is heated to its Tg or higher, it will reexpand to 90% of its original thickness within about 1 day or less.

15. The compressible foam insulation material of claim 13, wherein the polymeric foam material has a number average cell size of from about 15.mu.m to about 35.mu.m.

16. The compressible foam insulation material of claim 15, wherein the polymeric foam material has an expanded, dry density of from about 0.03 to about 0.015 g/cc.

17. The compressible foam insulation material of claim 16, wherein when the foam is heated to its Tg or higher, it will reexpand to 90% of its original thickness within about 1 day or less.

18. The compressible polymeric foam insulation material of claim 1, wherein said foam material is prepared by polymerizing a water-in-oil emulsion having:

(1) an oil phase comprising:
(a) from about 80% to about 98% by weight of a monomer component capable of forming a copolymer having a Tg value of from about 30.degree. C. to about 90.degree. C., said monomer component comprising:
(i) from about 20% to about 45% by weight of a substantially water-insoluble, monofunctional monomer capable of forming a polymer having a Tg of about 35.degree. C. or less;
(ii) from about 20% to about 50% by weight of a substantially water-insoluble, monofunctional comonomer capable of imparting toughness about equivalent to that provided by styrene;
(iii) from about 2% to about 50% of a first substantially water-insoluble, polyfunctional crosslinking agent selected from the group consisting of divinyl benzene and analogs thereof; and
(iv) from about 0% to about 15% of a second substantially water-insoluble, polyfunctional crosslinking agent selected from the group consisting of diacrylates of diols and analogs thereof; and
(b) from about 2% to about 20% by weight of an emulsifier component which is soluble in the oil phase and which is suitable for forming a stable water-in-oil emulsion;
(2) a water phase comprising from about 0% to about 20% by weight of a water-soluble electrolyte; and
(3) a volume to weight ratio of water phase to oil phase in the range of from about 20:1 to about 250:1.
Referenced Cited
U.S. Patent Documents
3255127 June 1966 von Bonin et al.
3256219 June 1966 Will
3431911 March 1969 Meisel, Jr.
3563243 February 1971 Lindquist
3565817 February 1971 Lissant
3640753 February 1972 Krauch et al.
3734867 May 1973 Will
3763056 October 1973 Will
3778390 December 1973 Ulrich, Jr.
3806474 April 1974 Blair
3988508 October 26, 1976 Lissant
3993074 November 23, 1976 Murray et al.
3994298 November 30, 1976 DesMarais
4029100 June 14, 1977 Karami
4049592 September 20, 1977 Marans et al.
4061145 December 6, 1977 DesMarais
4067832 January 10, 1978 DesMarais
4093570 June 6, 1978 Miyake et al.
4110276 August 29, 1978 DesMarais
4132839 January 2, 1979 Marans et al.
4262052 April 14, 1981 Kannan et al.
4376440 March 15, 1983 Whitehead et al.
4394930 July 26, 1983 Korpman
4425130 January 10, 1984 DesMarais
4473611 September 25, 1984 Haq
4522953 June 11, 1985 Barby et al.
4536521 August 20, 1985 Haq
4540717 September 10, 1985 Mahnke et al.
4554297 November 19, 1985 Dabi
4603069 July 29, 1986 Haq et al.
4606958 August 19, 1986 Haq et al.
4611014 September 9, 1986 Jones et al.
4612334 September 16, 1986 Jones et al.
4613543 September 23, 1986 Dabi
4668709 May 26, 1987 Jones et al.
4724242 February 9, 1988 Vassileff
4725628 February 16, 1988 Garvey et al.
4731391 March 15, 1988 Garvey
4740528 April 26, 1988 Garvey et al.
4775655 October 4, 1988 Edwards et al.
4788225 November 29, 1988 Edwards et al.
4797310 January 10, 1989 Barby et al.
4839395 June 13, 1989 Masamizu et al.
4957810 September 18, 1990 Eleouet et al.
4959341 September 25, 1990 Wallach
4961982 October 9, 1990 Taylor
4965289 October 23, 1990 Sherrington et al.
4966919 October 30, 1990 Williams, Jr. et al.
4972002 November 20, 1990 Volkert
4973610 November 27, 1990 Hahn et al.
4985467 January 15, 1991 Kelly et al.
4985468 January 15, 1991 Elmes et al.
4990541 February 5, 1991 Nielsen et al.
4992254 February 12, 1991 Kong
5021462 June 4, 1991 Elmes et al.
5034424 July 23, 1991 Wenning et al.
5037859 August 6, 1991 Williams, Jr. et al.
5047225 September 10, 1991 Kong
5065752 November 19, 1991 Sessions et al.
5066684 November 19, 1991 LeMay
5066784 November 19, 1991 Sherrington et al.
5110838 May 5, 1992 Tokiwa et al.
5116880 May 26, 1992 Tokiwa et al.
5116883 May 26, 1992 LeMay
5128382 July 7, 1992 Elliott, Jr. et al.
5134007 July 28, 1992 Reising et al.
5134171 July 28, 1992 Hammel et al.
5147345 September 15, 1992 Young et al.
5149720 September 22, 1992 DesMarais et al.
5189070 February 23, 1993 Brownscombe et al.
5198472 March 30, 1993 DesMarais et al.
5200433 April 6, 1993 Beshouri
5210104 May 11, 1993 Bass et al.
5210108 May 11, 1993 Spinu et al.
5221726 June 22, 1993 Dabi et al.
5250576 October 5, 1993 DesMarais et al.
5250579 October 5, 1993 Smits et al.
5252619 October 12, 1993 Brownscombe et al.
5260345 November 9, 1993 DesMarais et al.
5268224 December 7, 1993 DesMarais et al.
5276067 January 4, 1994 Doerge
5290820 March 1, 1994 Brownscombe et al.
5318554 June 7, 1994 Young et al.
5331015 July 19, 1994 DesMarais et al.
5336208 August 9, 1994 Rosenbluth et al.
5336695 August 9, 1994 Nass et al.
5352711 October 4, 1994 DesMarais
5387207 February 7, 1995 Dyer et al.
Foreign Patent Documents
0 017 672 A1 October 1980 EPX
0 017 671 A1 October 1980 EPX
0 049 768 A1 April 1982 EPX
0 068 830 A1 January 1983 EPX
0 299 762 January 1989 EPX
0 480 379 A2 April 1992 EPX
3 109 929 A1 January 1982 DEX
2-239863 September 1990 JPX
2-289608 November 1990 JPX
3-49759 March 1991 JPX
1 493 356 November 1977 GBX
2 188 055 September 1987 GBX
WO 94/28839 December 1994 WOX
Other references
  • Lissant, KJ et al., "Structure of High Internal Phase Ratio Emulsions", 47(2) J. of Colloid and Interface Sci. 416-23, May 1974. Lissant, KJ et al., "A Study of Medium and High Internal Phase Ratio Water/Polymer Emulsions", 42(1) J. of Colloid and Interface Sci. 201-08, 1973. Lissant, KJ et al., "The Geometry of High-Internal-Phase Ratio Emulsions", 22 J. of Colloid and Interface Sci. 462-68, 1966. Aubert, JH et al., "Low Density, Microcellular Polystyrene Foams," 26 Polymer 2047-54, 1985. LeMay, "Mechanical Structure Property Relationships of Microcellular, Low Density Foams", 207 Mat. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. 21-26, 1991. Weber, H et al., "New Melamine-based elastic foam", translation of 75 Kunststoffe German Plastics 843-48, 1985. Young, AT et al., "Preparation of multishell ICF target plastic foam cushion materials by thermally induced phase inversion processes", 20(4) J. Vac. Sci Technol. 1094-2004, 1981. Gibson, LJ and Ashby, MF, "Cellular Solids Structure & Properties", Permagon Press, Chapter 5, pp. 121-200, 1988. Aerogels, Jochen Fricke, pp. 92-97. Blumgara, Z., "Polymeric Foam Materials as Filtration Media", Filtration and Separation (Mar. 1995), pp. 245-251. Williams, JM, "High Internal Phase Water-In-Oil Emulsions: Influence of Surfactants and Cosurfactants on Emulsion Stability and Foam Quality", 7 Langmuir 1370-77, 1991. Kong, FM, "Summary Abstract: Low-density polystyrene foam materials for direct-drive last inertial confinement fusion targets", 6(3) J. Vac. Sci. Tech. 1894-1895, 1988. Hainey, P et al., "Synthesis and Ultrastructural Studies of Styrene-Divinylbenzene Polyhipe Polymers", 24 Macromolecules, 117-121, 1991.
Patent History
Patent number: 5770634
Type: Grant
Filed: Jun 7, 1995
Date of Patent: Jun 23, 1998
Assignee: The Procter & Gamble Company (Cincinnati, OH)
Inventors: John Collins Dyer (Cincinnati, OH), Thomas Allen DesMarais (Cincinnati, OH)
Primary Examiner: Morton Foelak
Attorneys: Carl J. Roof, E. Kelly Linman, Jacobus C. Rasser
Application Number: 8/484,727